Home Made Mozzarella Cheese

Mozzarella is on of the most common cheeses you see in kitchen. Anybody that has tasted fresh mozzarella will attest that there is absolutely no resemblance in taste and texture to supermarket mozzarella sold in brick form or sliced. Luckily, it is fairly easy to make at home. Give it a try, it might become a regular on “To-do” list. It is on mine. Also, there is one more benefit in making this cheese at home: the leftover whey can be turned into great fresh ricotta cheese.

 Instructions  

Place 4 liters of whole milk into a stainless steel pot.  Measure all of the following ingredients into four individual containers.  This will allow you to make the cheese without worrying about measurements.

2 tsp. citric acid dissolved in 3/4 cup of water

1/4 tsp. Lipase powder dissolved in 2 Tbs. of water

1/8 tsp. rennet dissolved in 1 cup of water

1/2 tsp. flaked salt (optional)

(use only distilled water)

Making the Cheese
Place the pot of milk on the stove over medium heat. It is important that you heat the milk slowly.  Slowly pour in the citric acid and mild lipase powder while you gently stir. Heat slowly until the milk reaches 88 °F.  Stir every few minutes to prevent scorching the milk on the bottom of the pot. You will begin to see the curd develop.
Once the milk reaches 88 °F stir in the rennet and water mixture. Continue stirring every few minutes until the milk reaches 105 °F.

 

Developing the Curd
Remove from the heat and let the milk set, covered, for 20 minutes at 105 °F. Curd will now be fully separated.

Cooking the Curd
Use a slotted spoon or strainer to transfer the curd to a microwave safe dish. If the curd is too soft to transfer, let the milk sit a few more minutes. Pour off as much of the whey as you can. Gently press the curds together with the spoon and force more whey out of them. Squeeze out and drain as much whey as possible.

Place the curd in the microwave on high for one minute. Remove and press the curds again to force out more whey. The cheese should begin to mass together and become sticky. 
After removing as much whey as possible put the bowl back for another 30 seconds.

Add the flaked salt a little at a time and knead the cheese with a spoon as you would bread dough. It will become smooth and shiny. Place the curd back into the microwave and heat on high for one more minute.  Remove from oven and drain any remaining whey.  This time your cheese will be too hot to handle, about 130 °F.

Stretching the Cheese
Knead the cheese again until it sticks to the spoon and pulls away from the bowl.
When the cheese begins to stretch like taffy, it is almost done.  You can have some fun now by pulling and stretching the cheese until it is completely cooled.  This is an important step.  Stretching will make the cheese firm and stringy.  If you prefer a softer texture don't stretch as much.
Place the cheese in an air tight container or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Use this cheese within one week or store it in the freezer for up to one month. If your cheese is too soft to shred for pizza, place it in the freezer then shred and use it partly frozen.

Ready for rennet addition.

The curd has formed...

The curd is ready for microwave oven. Notice the green whey that I will turn into ricotta later.

First heating...

Second heating...

First kneading

Cheese is ready to be formed into bocconcini. 

Four liters of 3.25% milk gave me just over 1 pound of mozzarella.